Chapter 61 Chapter Forty-eight

Dors Venabili woke up in the middle of the night, and her timing belt told her that the night was only half over.Since she hadn't heard Seldon's snoring, she could tell his cot was empty.If he had never left the apartment, he would have been in the bathroom. She knocked lightly on the door and said softly, "Harry?" He replied absent-mindedly, "Come in." So she walked in. The toilet seat was down, and Seldon sat on it, the tome spread across his lap. "I'm reading." What he said was actually superfluous. "Yes, I can see that. But why?" "I can't sleep, I'm sorry."

"But why are you reading it here?" "If I turn on the light in the room, I'll wake you up." "Are you sure this tome cannot illuminate itself?" "Pretty sure. When Raindrop Four-Three described its function, she never mentioned lighting. Besides, I imagine that would consume too much power, causing the battery to die before the tome's lifespan." His tone was audible. not satisfied. Dors said, "You can go out now, then. I'm going to use this place." When she came out, she found him sitting cross-legged on his cot, still absorbed in his reading, while the room was brightly lit.

She said, "You don't look very happy. Has this tome disappointed you?" He raised his head and looked at her with blinking eyes: "Yes, it is true. I don't have much time, so I have to browse at will. I only have time to do so. This thing is like an encyclopedia. The index Almost all names of people and places, which is of no use to me at all. It makes no mention of the Galactic Empire or the kingdoms of the pre-Empire era: it is almost entirely a history of a single world. According to some analysis I have read, it is completely It's an endless domestic issue."

"Perhaps you underestimated its age. It may indeed describe a time when there was only one world... only one world with people." "Yes, I know." Seldon looked a little impatient, "Actually, that's exactly what I want—as long as I can be sure that it's a historical fact, not a legend. I doubt this, and I'm uneasy just to believe it .” Dors said: "Well, the theory about the origin of a single world has been widely circulated recently. Human beings scattered throughout the galaxy belong to a single species, so they must have come from somewhere—at least, this is the most popular view at present. Likewise species could not have originated independently on many different worlds."

"But I have never seen the inevitability of this argument." Seldon said, "If human beings originated from many worlds and belonged to many different species, why couldn't they form an intermediate species through interbreeding?" "Because different species can't interbreed, that's what defines a species." Seldon thought for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Well, I'll leave that question to the biologists." "They're exactly the group of people who are most enthusiastic about the Earth hypothesis." "Earth? Is this what they call the so-called origin world?"

"It's the most common name, but we have no way of knowing what it was called—if there was one at all. No one has the slightest clue as to where it might be." "Earth!" Seldon pouted. "Sounds like a jerk to me. Anyway, if this book is about a world of origin, I haven't found it yet. What's the name?" After she told him, he quickly looked up the tome. "You see, the name isn't listed in the index, either for those two words, or for any reasonable synonyms." "real?" "They did mention some other worlds in passing, but they didn't name them. They didn't seem to be interested in any other world, except for the world that directly intruded on the world they described-at least, what I have read so far. I feel this way. Somewhere they talk about 'fiftieth number'. I don't know what they mean, fiftieth leader? Fifty city? Seems like fiftieth to me world."

"Did they mention the name of their own world—the world that seemed to occupy all their thoughts?" Dors asked, "If they don't call it Earth, what do they call it?" "As you might expect, they call it 'The World' or 'The Planet,' and sometimes the 'Old World' or the 'Dawn World', which I guess has some poetic meaning, but I don't know what I think we have to read this tome from beginning to end, so that certain contents will become more meaningful." He looked down at the tome in his hand with a slightly troubled expression. "However, that would take a long time to ask, and I'm not sure I'll find the answer after reading it."

Dors sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry. You sound very disappointed." "That's because I'm really disappointed. It's my own fault, though, I shouldn't have let myself expect too much—ah, I remembered, somewhere they called their world 'Aurora '." "Aurora?" Dors raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like a proper term, and as far as I know, it doesn't mean anything else. Do you know what it means, Dors?" "Aurora—" Dors thought, with a slightly serious look on her face. "In the entire history of the Galactic Empire, or even at this stage of its development, I dare not say I have ever heard a single planet by that name. But I will not pretend to know every name of twenty-five million worlds. We Might look it up in the University library - if we ever get a chance to go back to Strulling. It's a vain effort to look for a library here at McQueen's. I've always had the feeling that all their knowledge is in this tome , if something isn't in there, they won't be interested."

Seldon yawned. "I think you're right. It's useless to read any further, anyway, and I doubt how long I can keep my eyes open. You don't mind if I turn the light out?" "Of course I don't mind, Harry. We can go to bed later in the morning." In the ensuing darkness, Seldon said softly, "Of course, some of their accounts are really absurd. For example, they mention that in their world the average lifespan is between three and four centuries." "century?" "Yes, they don't count ages in years, but in centuries. It's kind of eerie, because whatever odd things they mention, the tone of the narrative seems so commonplace that it's almost believable."

"If you feel like you're on the verge of taking it for granted, you should know that many legends of primordial origin assume early leaders lived many times the lifespan of modern humans. They're portrayed as unimaginably brave, you think, with Extraordinarily long lifespans seem to be a natural occurrence." "Is that so?" Kitton yawned again. "Yes. And the way to treat severe bullying is to get a good night's sleep and think about these problems tomorrow." Seldon fell silent, and suddenly thought: If you want to understand the human beings in the entire galaxy.A long lifespan may be just the basic requirement.As soon as he thought of this, he fell asleep.